How Much Money Pros Actually Make From Endorsements | Golf Digest

You can’t miss the many logos being worn by today’s professional golfers, but it wasn’t always that way. Let’s take a look at the infiltration and evolution of sports marketing in the game. We’ll explore how these sponsorship deals come about, why they’re made and just how much they’re worth for both players and the companies they represent.

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quick what do you see if you answered a bunch of PGA Tour Pros you’d be right but you also don’t need to look hard to see something else we’re talking about those logos all those logos as the old saying goes these guys are good but they’re also good at helping to Market and sell stuff everything from golf equipment and golf apparel to watches and consulting services companies don’t just see golfers when they look at them but walk fing talking Billboards so how did all those logos get there and how do they work let’s examine in the beginning there was a king just not the one you might be expecting we’ll get into Arnold Palmer’s prodigious record as a pitchman but first we’ll start with a man named Lou King Lou held a variety of important jobs throughout his life including being the executive director of the PJ of America at one point but we’re going to focus on his time as the senior vice president of marketing at an based home appliance company called amama that’s because in 1968 Lou had the brilliant idea of paying pro golfers to wear hats with amana’s logo what did players get for this the modest amount of $50 per tournament along with health insurance now Lou didn’t just have a good idea but he had good timing because one of the first players to sign up in 1968 was Bob goldby who wore the amama Hat on his way to winning the Masters that year and a lot more people would probably remember that major moment in Sports Marketing if not for that major being determined by Roberto D venzo signing an incorrect scorecard the golf world was very mixed about this new practice though in fact TV networks often tried keeping these hats out of the shot in part due to loyalty to their own sponsors and also because they were perceived by many to be an eyesore legendary CBS producer Frank chanian even admitted he would purposely avoid showing players wearing them all together during broadcasts but once aanaa opened the door others soon followed and eventually there were too many logos to contain okay now it’s time to talk about that other king the king Arnold Palmer Not only was the seven time major champ one of the greatest golfers of all time but he would revolutionize the role all athletes play in Sports Marketing he didn’t become a Pioneer pitch man alone though as Legend has it a handshake deal with Mark McCormack in the fall of 1959 started one of the most profitable partnersh ship in history with his good looks and Charming personality Palmer became a fixture in living rooms around the country for the next five decades he hawked luxury cars rental cars motor oil vodka Financial Services more luxury cars you name it when he died in 2016 he had represented nearly 50 different products and made nearly $1 billion pretty impressive considering his official career PGA tour earnings amounted to less than 2 million but perusing photos from Palmer’s long career also offers a window into how much things have changed in terms of brand visibility one of the most famous golf photos ever taken could also be mistaken for a cigarette ad it’s Palmer and Ben Hogan standing side by side at the 1966 Masters but there’s not a logo in sight Palmer’s own logo a multicolored umbrella would eventually start to show up on his shirts and hats along with a few others including Cadillac but overall he and his contemporaries maintained a much cleaner look than modern players who look more and more like NASCAR drivers and there’s good reason for that in addition to becoming generally more accepted the PGA tour’s player endorsement policy allows golfers to sell space pretty much all over their clothes golf bags and even golf towels with only a few regulations there are some restrictions involving alcohol and gambling and tobacco and marijuana deals are outlawed but there’s no limit to how many deals a player can have and the tour has even gotten more lenient with the size and placement of these logos in recent years according to the current endorsement policy no logo should exceed 3x 5 in not counting on the golf B that’s up from 2×2 Ines and whereas there used to be a maximum of five deals There’s No Limit now however there are seven specific spots where logos can be placed on the Torso these are the right and left breast the right and left sleeve the right and left collar and the area just below the collar on the back of the shirt which is apparently called the yolk there are also plenty of ways companies measure their return on investment with these endorsement deals here’s Adidas golf president Jeff linhardt whose Long career also includes being at Nike in 1996 when it signed a young up incomer named Tiger Woods firsthand uh Roi would be things like uh showing up in a in a piece of apparel or a certain Footwear on a weekend uh and then having it sell out the next day on Ecom um and and those are the things that you know we can we can see and measure and we certainly know that there’s a there’s a return also depending on how they’ve performed and how we’ve used the used the content that we have with them um just the engagement with those social media posts and other things you know says a lot about that athlete and and and how they’re connecting with with the core consumer that we’re trying to get to you know be connected with so which are the most valuable parts of a golfer setup let’s start with the hat which is like the ocean front property of the bunch in fact the hat is so visible that it can be divided into four sections the front back and both sides obviously the front is the prime space though and depending on the deal the company may want ownership of the entire headwear next would be the chest area followed by the front sleeve so the left sleeve for a righty and the right sleeve for a lefty because that gets seen more on TV then there’s the other sleeve then the two collar placements and then the yolk last are the shoes which are not seen as much on TV also they’re usually part of a ball shoe glove combo deal of course the value of these deals has a wide range depending on the player a star commands top dollar while a corn faery Tor Pro might be happy to just get free equipment and clothes players and sponsors keep these terms secret but as a general rule star players command at least 1 million per year for hats space shirt deals typically go for much less especially when a player has multiple logos on his torso that’s usually a sign he doesn’t have a major clothing deal it’s been reported that Justin Rose receives as much as 5 million for wearing that Morgan Stanley hat so yeah that’s some pretty valuable real estate but not surprisingly the companies can get Great Value from that as well as Brian Harman Cru to The clar Jug at the 2023 Open Championship there was plenty of chatter about his Mega Corp hat Mega corp’s director of marketing says the company’s Google analytics profile increased by 5,000% during the tournament in other words whatever meac Corp is paying Harman he’ll probably be asking for a raise when his contract is up actually he likely got one autom atically through incentives that players have in their deals for everything from winning a major to keeping their tour card those usually aren’t straight up bonuses but rather increases to a Pros base salary for the remainder of his deal that can work out to big money for players but these incentives are good for the companies as well because once a player gets that pay bump he’s going to become more loyal to that brand and less likely to leave for another where he might have to start with a deal structured around a lower base pay as one agent told us it’s like a golden handcuff that being said certain accomplishments can also give a player the right to opt out of a contract to seek a better deal hey you’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot so it pays to have a good agent in your corner not the cashing in doesn’t have its cons we’ve seen plenty of major Champs change equipment following breakthrough winds and never quite be the same with prize money as much as it is today sometimes it pays off a lot more to be comfortable than to add one more endorsement deal brand don’t just get exposure from their athletes for their money most endorsement deals include a certain amount of time up to 3 to 4 days for major deals throughout the year that can be used for things like shooting commercials creating other content testing product cocktail party meet and greets or playing golf with clients and some guys certainly give you more bang for your buck Phil Mickelson for instance has always had a reputation for having that Arnold Palmer Magic Touch in corporate outings Arnold Palmer and Luke King may have been two of the Sparks for this sponsorship explosion but even they wouldn’t believe how big it’s gotten in 2023 for instance John ROM earned 25 million off the course a figure that should only go up following his master’s win that April meanwhile Patrick Mahomes on track to be arguably the greatest quarterback in the biggest sport in the country by far made 20 million in endorsements and rah’s 25 million pales in comparison to what Tiger Woods and Phil Nicholson were pulling in during their peaks how is that possible well while Pro Golf is relatively a niche sport in the United States its players have some major advantages over the athletes in major team sports like football basketball and baseball for one PJ torros are independent contractors they don’t have to wear a team uniform that doesn’t allow them to seek endorsement deals then there’s the potential visibility golf tournaments typically draw lower ratings than those other sports but think about all the air time a leader on Sunday gets and think about how much time a star and all those logos are shown over the the course of 4 days and finally it’s not just about how many people are watching but who is watching marketing studies consistently show golf audiences are relatively affluent in other words companies know their logos are being seen by eyeballs with Deep Pockets which allows companies pitching more expensive products and services there’s a reason why you see so many commercials for things like luxury cars and watches and financial services and Consulting companies during golf broadcasts not that there aren’t more lower brow deals out there as well they think John dalan Hooters or Jason duffner and dude wipes it’s no surprise that the game’s biggest stars from The King to the Golden Bear to the shark and to of course Tiger have been the biggest endorsement earners as well when Woods turned Pro he famously uttered the words I guess hello world huh and he had already Inked a 5-year 40 million deal with Nike which at the time was the richest endorsement deal ever for an athlete this was before he even hit his first shot as a pro and that money only went up woodswood signed three more extensions with the apparel giant which also used tiger to get into the equipment industry before shutting that down in 2016 those subsequent deals reportedly earned tiger 20 million plus per year and he became the first athlete to crack 1 billion in earnings back in 2010 but in January of 2023 Woods announced he and Nike were parting ways after a nearly three deade partnership that was highly profitable for both parties when Woods next played gone were the swoosh and tww logos fans were used to seeing as he wore a new Lifestyle brand created by his equipment sponsor tailor maid called Sunday red a nod to his trademark shirt color choice for final rounds the tiger and Nike split marked the end of one of the great Sports Marketing Partnerships of all time and served as the latest reminder that nothing lasts forever but if we’ve learned anything from Woods and other pro golfers there will be a lot more endorsement deals and logos to come